The human body as interface: 3 ways how to do it

Feb 14, 2014
Menno van Doorn

The most natural interface is no interface. When technology is just like walking, talking, breathing, it would be a whole other experience. Are we there yet? No, but we are moving towards that future quite rapidly. In Microsoft labs we’re seeing cool things, like “Humantenna“or a company called Bionym that launched the Nymi, (but that’s still a prosthesis and not totally interfaces less.

Let’s look at three promising, and at least intriguing, examples of the human as interface.

1. Transmitting sound with your body 

disney

A new technology coming from Disney Research. It’s called “Ishin-Den-Shin,” It’s a Japanese expression for communicating through an unspoken mutual understanding, the technology turns an audio message into an inaudible signal that is relayed by the human body. When the communicator touches another person’s ear, a modulated electrostatic field creates a very small vibration of the ear lobe; the finger and the other person’s ear, together, form a speaker which makes the signal audible only for the person touched. It can be used to explore new approaches for inter-personal communication and can be used to transmit sound from person to person via any sort of physical contact. Here you can see how it works.

2. Transmitting product info with your body

2

It’s the end of the QR-code, that funny little square that presents information on your iPhone when you take a picture. With Connected Paper, an individual can access information about anything with print on it by touching it. Coming from the innovation lab of Ericsson. Here is how it works.

3. Humanelectro

2. HumanelectroThe Leap Motion Controller senses how you naturally move your hands and lets you use your computer in a whole new way. It’s a mouse replacement. Point, wave, reach, grab. Pick something up and move it. Do things you never dreamed possible. Ryi Fujimoto is a Japanese musician, human beatbox style. He has mastered the leap motion to create music and is opening new doors for creativity see

About the author

Director and Trend Analyst VINT | Netherlands
Menno is Director of the Sogeti Research Institute for the Analysis of New Technology (VINT). He mixes personal life experiences with the findings of the 19 years of research done at the VINT Research Institute. Menno has co-authored many books on the impact of new technology on business and society.

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